Unique Wedding Readings

Welcome back to our weekly wedding readings segment. This is where we source and share some of our favourite texts perfect for weddings. This week we are focusing on unique wedding readings. We try and include a variety of ideas so that there is a reading suggestion for every kind of speech at every kind of wedding!

However, if you are looking for a reading suggestion for a specific event, please feel free to leave us a comment. We would love to help you source one.

Unique Wedding Readings: ‘From Beginning to End’ by Robert Fulghum

This week’s reading is an extract from Robert Fulghum’s From Beginning to End. Fulghum’s book is known as a celebration of our lives from beginning to end. A philosopher and essayist, Fulghum has a unique yet universal take on what it feels like to experience the phenomenon of being alive.

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks—all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will and you will and we will”—those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”—and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart.    All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding.

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed—well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another—acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years.    Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this—is my husband, this—is my wife.

Why We Love It

This is one of our favourite unique wedding readings. It has a beautiful way of making the personal universal. The text shows the journey from early relationship to marriage, and illustrates all of the little instances that make up that journey. It ends by impressing upon the listener how momentous this occasion is. Despite being from an essay, this text is deeply romantic.

This is one of the best unique wedding readings to have read out just before or during your ceremony. It would also be ideal for an elopement.

If you like this reading, keep your eyes peeled next week and every week from here on out. We will share more unique wedding readings as well as texts about joy, children, religion, and more.

By Wedding Rings Direct